


One night of peace, please?

by multifunctional



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, half blood prince - Fandom, harry potter and the half blood prince - Fandom
Genre: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Weed, oh well rofl, there are really only brief mentions of the houses and of the three, this fic is just neville and the Marriage Iguana
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 08:06:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11755572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/multifunctional/pseuds/multifunctional
Summary: Being a friend of Harry Potter can be incredibly difficult. Neville is not one to turn to substance abuse, but sometimes marijuana is a good enough way to fight his anxiety.





	One night of peace, please?

A long sigh accompanied the stream of smoke coming from Neville's lips. He leaned back against the back wall of one of the greenhouses, gazing across the way and studying the hazy shapes of tendrils and branches twisting near the thick glass windows. Today was supposed to be a rather lazy Sunday, but, unsurprisingly, an intense amount of drama had arisen following a quidditch match the day before. Ravenclaw and Slytherin students had been at each other's throats all weekend and hissed threats were tossed across halls in effort to get the opposing team members and their supporters to back the fuck away. As intense as the rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor was, the intensity of the heat and tension between Slytherin and Ravenclaw was almost unbearable. Being around the herbology department was where Neville felt safest and calmest, and tonight he had the added benefit of a roll of marijuana to mellow him out.

After what felt like an appropriately long sit around the plants, he stood and began to meander around the castle toward Hagrid's hut. Curfew was nearing, but as a sixth year student, he could not be bothered to care too much. Harry was off on some adventure doing Merlin knows what, and their beloved headmaster was in and out of reach more irregularly than before. Neville could not stop worrying about them, and he knew that very soon he would need to go and help them on their way to doing away with Lord Voldemort.

For the time being, however, he just needed some time more or less alone. It took a bit of time to make his way across the enormous castle grounds, but it was a nice, soothing walk where he did not need to think too hard about anything. The moon was just a sliver and the stars were nice and bright in the deep, dark sky. Chilly winter nights could be tricky to get through at times, but the soft light reflecting off the frosty grass was a certain type of magic on its own.

Once in eyeshot of Hagrid's hut, he stood still for a few moments before sitting in the grass, elbows on his knees. The window was illuminated by the orangeish light of his fire and he was just close enough to faintly hear his warbly, off-key singing. It was comforting, hearing a good friend still managing to have a peaceful night of his own.

The heavy door creaked as Hagrid opened it and trundled outside to kick at the dying plants in his patches. Neville smiled at the sight. He was just going about his life as normal and it was just… so nice. He almost missed when Hagrid looked up and gave a startled "Hello, there!"

Neville's smile brightened and he waved at Hagrid.

"Hello."

"I didn't see you come around! Didn't hear ya either."

Neville shrugged.

"I was being quiet." (Yes, of course I was, Neville sighed internally. Hagrid could tell that much, silly.) "I was just out for a walk to clear my head a bit."

"Well," said Hagrid with a gesture to his little home, "yer welcome to come inside if the cold gets to ya."

"Thanks," Neville smiled.

Hagrid smiled back and nodded, stepping to the side and gesturing again in case the warmth of the indoors was an imminent desire. When Neville did not make any motion to stand immediately, Hagrid turned to trundle again through his patches of cold dirt and enormous late-autumn vegetables. Neville did eventually get up and follow along, kicking at a dead patch of grass on the edge of a pumpkin patch.

"You doin' alright?" Hagrid asked quietly. "Smells like -"

"No, I'm fine," Neville said quickly. To follow up on Hagrid's concerned face, he shook his head slowly. "I'm fine, really, I'm fine. I'm really fine, I'm good," he insisted, voice falling to a bit of a mumble as he went on. He gave a small sigh, staring off at the moonlit thatching of the roof.

"Worried 'bout those three?" Hagrid supplied.

Another numb nod.

Hagrid put a large hand on Neville's shoulder, patting heavily and turning him toward the door, ushering gently inside for some tea and too-hard biscuits.

Once inside, Neville sank into an enormous lumpy chair and held his bowl-sized mug of tea with both hands, staring into the fire. As wonderful as it is to watch fire ordinarily, watching it through his calming haze was just splendid. He nibbled slowly on the biscuits, lost in the curls of the flames. He did not listen particularly closely as Hagrid recounted some of the crazy adventures that the golden trio had embarked on, preferring to let his mind wander away from the dangers that they so often put themselves into. It seemed to make Hagrid happy to talk, though, so he nodded along, not moving away from his position watching the flickers of orange and yellow save for the shadows that hung on the ground behind obstructions to the light.

Neville felt sleepy. It was decidedly past curfew by this point, and he did catch Hagrid making a concerned comment about it.

"I don't want ya gettin' inta any trouble, yanno."

It seemed unusual for Hagrid to wring his hands in such a way, but Neville supposed it must have been because of his current state. Understandable. He could feel himself practically floating on the lumpy chair that he had lay claim to. He did not want to get up and make the long trek back to Gryffindor tower, but he knew that at some point, he must.

"Yeah," he sighed. He finally looked up to meet Hagrid's eyes and gave a tired nod.

"I'unno if me walkin' ya back would count as 'chaperoning' enough ta keep ya outta trouble, but…."

"No, no. Thank you, but I'll be fine, I think."

Neville took another minute before he stood up and set the enormous mug back on the table. He looked up at Hagrid and tripped over the foot of his chair on his way to give him a big appreciative hug.

"Thank you, though."

Hagrid was a bit surprised by the move but again patted his back.

"Yer welcome to come by here any time if ya need more of that… calming… stuff."

Neville smiled and stood back up again.

"Thank you."

He waved on his way out the door, checking each direction as he set off on the trek back toward the tower. The castle was a good deal quieter without Harry, Ron, and Hermione's combined antics, but he knew that soon enough the whole school must somehow come to be involved in their endeavors against Lord Voldemort - whatever those 'antics' may be. They were doubtless very important.

He let his mind wander back to the flickering flames from inside Hagrid's hut and once again observed the stars as he approached one of the castle doors. It was astounding to think that those stars were orange fire like the orange fire in that room. It was astounding to think that wherever in the world the missing party was, he could see the same stars.(Probably. Stars did look different in some places, sometimes, as they had probably learned in astronomy. Neville felt like a fool for not being able to construct a strong enough mental image of those star facts.)

Maneuvering his way back to the common room was a bit more difficult than it should have been and he really could not remember the password, but the Fat Lady was used to this by now. At least he made it back in without getting caught by anyone (though how he managed that he was not quite sure). Thank goodness he apparently had a little slip of paper with the password in the pocket of his robe.

Once up in his dormitory room, he looked out the window again until he fell asleep surrounded by glittering and twirling stars. One evening of calm was just fantastic. Hopefully things would be calmer by tomorrow, he thought as he fell asleep. He figured that they really would not be so, but nevertheless he dared to hope.

Oh well.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea how the Wizarding World would approach the Devil's Lettuce but mostly I wanted to talk about how Neville has anxiety and likes plants so probably would do a weed once in a while. Let Neville Feel Happy 2k17
> 
> I feel like this is a poopy lil fic but I also feel anxious and would like to stare at a fire in such a state. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ hashtag every millennial relate??


End file.
